History Main / Baku

* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' a baku appears as Danzou's [[SummonMagic summoning]] and looks like a huge, tuskless fierce elephant, able to suck anything in his trunk.

* ''Manga/SazanEyes'': The Fire General of the Five Generals of Gui Yan vaguely resembles a Baku, being an elephant-like gargoyle monster. Like the other generals, he presumably has psychic powers which allows him to ''give'' nightmares to people.

* ''[[{{Series/LostGirl}} Lost Girl]]'' depicts a baku as an unambiguously good fae whose nightmare eating is depicted as a particularly soothing hug. Unfortunately, they were hunted to near extinction because their remains retain their soothing nightmare preventing qualities, and are thus highly endangered.

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'', when a character wakes up from Sleep status on his or her own, a small baku comes by to "eat" their dreams away.

* '"Series/UltramanAce'' has a Baku-themed monster, Baktari, who used to be an ordinary tapir before getting turned into a choju by the Yapool.

** Bakumon (who goes by the name Tapirmon in the dub) is an Animal Digimon with the appearance of a small tusked-warthog-esque creature with a cloud instead of backlegs. Lore states that it was generated from a medical computer for detecting brain waves, and it seems that it uses the data from humans in REM sleep as nourishment, later going on to feed on bad dreams and malignant viruses. When one appeared under the influence of TheCorruption in ''Anime/DigimonFrontier'', it used its powers to show the [=DigiDestined=] [[YourWorstNightmare their worst fears]] and when it was purified, it gave them pleasant dreams instead. Another appears in ''Anime/DigimonGhostGame'' and has DreamWalker powers.

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]

** ''Anime/DigimonUniverseApplimonsters'' has Dreammon, a masked baku who inhabits a dream app can induce dreams in others. He uses a dream-based SecretTestOfCharacter to decide whether or not to grant his power to Astra and Musimon, allowing the latter to gain his Ultimate-Grade form.

* ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'': In ''The Dreaming'' Arc "Pathways and Emanations", when Judge Gallows takes over as regent of the Dreaming to instill order, he tries enforcing his frontier justice onto the realm by hanging the various blanks that had immigrated there. Since they are made of dream-matter and thus cannot die in the conventional sense, he hogties a Baku and feeds dissonants to it. Since the Baku was made to bring equilibrium to dreams, this was NotTheIntendedUse.

* Bakumon from ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'' (who goes by the name Tapirmon in the dub) is an Animal Digimon with the appearance of a small tusked-warthog-esque creature with a cloud instead of backlegs. Lore states that it was generated from a medical computer for detecting brain waves, and it seems that it uses the data from humans in REM sleep as nourishment, later going on to feed on bad dreams and malignant viruses. When one appeared under the influence of TheCorruption in ''Anime/DigimonFrontier'', it used its powers to show the [=DigiDestined=] [[YourWorstNightmare their worst fears]] and when it was purified, it gave them pleasant dreams instead.

* ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'':
** Baku make an appearance in ''The Dream Hunters'', grazing on bad dreams as background fauna.
** In ''The Dreaming'' Arc "Pathways and Emanations", when Judge Gallows takes over as regent of the Dreaming to instill order, he tries enforcing his frontier justice onto the realm by hanging the various blanks that had immigrated there. Since they are made of dream-matter and thus cannot die in the conventional sense, he hogties a Baku and feeds dissonants to it. Since the Baku was made to bring equilibrium to dreams, this was NotTheIntendedUse.

* A storyline of ''Manga/AyakashiTriangle'' has Ritta and Suzu's dreams manipulated to attack them by what turns out to be a baku, which mostly resembles a black elephant. Shirogane implies it normally fulfills the roles of protecting humans by eating their bad dreams. This one was corrupted, causing it ''give'' people bad dreams, and even kill them inside them.

** ''Oriental Adventures'' has a creature that much more closely matches the characteristics of the mythological baku, such as having the same composition of animal parts and the ability to consume bad dreams. Its name however is [[CallARabbitASmeerp the shirokinukatsukami]].